An innovative Italian pavilion, with cutting-edge technology and a great visual impact. Inside there are important proposals for public services, street furnishings, urban design, sport and leisure, and sustainable logistics and mobility. Expo will also be a celebration of the most important cities in Italy, which are considered true collective art works as well as prime calling cards for a culture that is born from history and has become an expression of elegance and style.

The Italian Trade Commission has entrusted the structure to the expert hands of architect Uberto Siola and the multimedia presentations to director Peter Greenaway, for the purpose of promoting Naples, Rome, Milan, Bologna and Venice.

The central theme and starting point is the one chosen for the 2010 edition of the Chinese exhibition: “Better city, better life”, a city with a good-quality of services and high-impact environmental policies is the best possible life choice. And so the Italian cities must compare themselves with those of other countries, trying to win the challenge above all in the area of originality and innovation.

Innovative will indeed by the full immersion in the Italian artistic reality desired by the director Greenaway to welcome visitors, with multiple screens and projections, music and sounds, which according to the dictates of the so-called “architectural cinema” will welcome them to then guide them elsewhere, in the six areas dedicated to Italy's outstanding qualities (products, projects, services and best practices). But fundamental for the Italian companies participating in the Shangai Expo, which will last from 1 May to the 31 October and for which are expected to 70,000,000 visitors, will be the role of the Italian Trade Commission. The Italian Institute for Foreign Trade will have its own exhibition space, in a room set up using the most advanced digital cinema techniques in which various collateral events will also be organised: workshops, demonstrations, masterclasses and then “instruction and research days” which will involve the most important Italian institutions and the most qualified Chinese counterparts.

Important for the complete success of the Italian trip to Cina will also be the events that the Italian Trade Commission has planned outside of the Expo area: From the “Drawing, design, patents and Italian creativity” exhibition, at the University of Tongji, to the one who's main theme is “the squares of Rome”, set up at the Shanghai contemporary Art Museum with the aim of introducing the most evocative places in the Italian capital through pictures by the press photographers. The Italian Institute for Foreign Trade has also made particular agreements with the cities of Venice and Bologna: The aim is to harmonise promotional initiatives through conferences, seminari technological seminars and important image events in sectors such as construction, restoration, furnishing and urban services. Also since 2007 an Expo Desk has been active for assistance to companies, for all information concerning tenders and business opportunities.